2007年VOA标准英语-US Seeks to Deny Bail for US Citizen Accused of

By Greg Flakus
Houston
15 February 2007

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston is planning to ask that accused terrorist Daniel Joseph Maldonado remain in custody¹ without bail² as it prepares its case against the man who is the first U.S. citizen charged with joining Islamic extremist combatants in Somalia. VOA's Greg Flakus has more from Houston.

The Maldonado case is scheduled to come before a federal judge in Houston next Tuesday, where prosecutors³ are expected to ask that bail be denied based on the risk of flight and Maldonado's potential threat to the community.  There is as yet no indication of when the case will come to trial.

Maldonado, 28, was arrested by Kenyan troops last month after he crossed over the border from Somalia, where U.S. officials say he was training with al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic extremist groups. The federal complaint against him contains information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation⁴ (FBI) indicating that Maldonado worked with an al-Qaida-associated bomb maker⁵ and received extensive combat training.  The Muslim convert is said to have gone to Somalia to carry out jihad and expressed a willingness to kill fellow Americans as part of that mission.

Daniel Maldonado, who also uses the name Daniel Aljughaifi, was born in Massachusetts and raised there and in New Hampshire and came to Houston in August 2005. A few months later, he flew to Cairo. About a year later he turned up in Somalia.

Very few people remember Maldonado from his brief time here in Houston. The manager of the apartment house where he lived, Chris Childress, says he has few recollections of the former resident.

"I know him just by seeing him, because we know all of our residents," he said.  "Most of us have worked here a long time, but we don't know anything else about him. We are cooperating with the police and giving them all the information they need and I think that is our best situation."

Maldonado came to the attention of federal investigators⁶ while he was still living here in Houston by sending messages to an online Islamic Network site. In one message, posted in early November 2005, he accused Christians⁷ and Jews of spreading evil, genocide and wars.

FBI officials who interviewed him after his arrest in Kenya, say he went to Somalia to wage jihad, which he described as fighting against all those who are against the Islamic state. While there, the FBI says he participated in the interrogation of a male flight attendant whom the jihadists suspected of being a spy. Maldonado told agents he was brought in because he spoke⁸ English, as did the flight attendant who he said was bound and subjected to beatings. Maldonado admitted to pointing his AK-47 rifle at the man and threatening him. He said he heard later the man had been killed.

Maldonado also described his training sessions with a man known as the "bomb maker."  He described some of the people involved in the training as members of al-Qaida. When asked about the terrorist organization's attack on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, Maldonado allegedly said he had no problem with that. He described himself as angry at America.

The federal complaint against Maldonado charges him with receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring⁹ to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States. He faces life in prison if convicted on the weapon count and 10 years in prison for the training count.

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

3 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。